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them are most famous for writing Gumboots. After hearing a recording of the instrumental, Paul Simon wrote lyrics
the song, asked them to play on his version, and it became part of the legendary Graceland album.
Come Back, Africa also featured music performed on the inside of vibrant Sophiatown life. While kwela was played
in the streets, marabi was another genre altogether, synthesized from many other musical forms including vocal and
instrumental music, religious and secular music, and music from Africa, Europe, and America. Characterized by
sections of African polyphony, a Western I-IV-V chord progression, and repetitive sections of traditional part
singing and harmonies, marabi was a hybrid of western and African music played under the radar at secret,
boisterous shebeens.
Genres of music in Sophiatown widely meshed together to form a more general genre called mbaqanga, a mix of
marabi, kwela, and Western jazz. But over time, this genre—much like South Africa itself—was manipulated,
controlled, and taken advantage of. White-owned recording industries and studios hired musicians cheaply to play
duplicates of other labels’ successes, and the genre developed in this direction under specifications from these
recording studios. But authenticity and brilliance remained in the townships themselves, and in the recordings
produced by the black community—especially as demonstrated by Miriam Makeba and her presence in Come Back,
Africa.
An American in Sophiatown
Conceived and Produced by ........................ Michael Ariel Rogosin
Written by ................................................... Michael Rogosin and Lloyd Ross
Directed and edited by ................................ Lloyd Ross
Co-produced by ........................................... Daniel Rogosin, Davide Andriole & Michael Caine
Produced in South Africa by ....................... Reedwaan Vally
Bloke Modisane’s words read by ................ Shunna Pillay
Music by...................................................... Jeff Gardner
With: Lewis Nkosi, Emil Knebel, Lorenza Mazzetti, Jonas Mekas, Myrtle Berman, Elinor Hart Rogosin, Isabel
Balseiro, Ntongela Masilela.
2007. Running time: 52 minutes. B&W and Color. South Africa, USA, Italy and France.
Michael Rogosin is a painter/artist who lives with his wife and two children in France. He has directed four
acclaimed documentaries about his father Lionel’s films, and is presently completing a feature about the Rogosin
family. He is the president of Rogosin Heritage, and has helped preserve his father’s films.
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